23th Annual CHER Conference
Effects of Higher Education Reforms 10 June – 12 June 2010, University of Oslo (UiO)
The 23rd Annual CHER Conference is proudly hosted and organized by the University of Oslo and NIFUSTEP, Norway.
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23rd Annual CHER Conference Effects of Higher Education ReformsRef Higher education is in a transition period. Politically and economically it has become more important over the last decades, but at the same time less special. More important in the sense that we have witnessed a growing political, social and economic interest and involvement in higher education. Less special meaning that a growing number of actors involved at various levels in higher education governance expect that higher education is governed like other sectors. Higher education institutions’ claims for uniqueness justifying a special governance approach, are regarded less and less as legitimate. Accompanying this development we have seen a growing focus on the performance of higher education institutions, as expressed in performance based funding components, the use of performance contracts, and the emergence of global university rankings. Perceived “performance failures” have led in many countries to reforms aimed at strengthening the competitive basis of especially the universities. Also knowledge economy related policy issues, such as the growing importance of human capital, the internationalisation of labour markets, and the knowledge link between research, education and innovation have made higher education a sector of major reform processes. Previous CHER conferences have focused on the reform agendas as such. At the 2010 CHER conference the focus is on the effects of the reforms at all relevant levels in higher education systems.
organization, public funding, functioning, and ways of operating are doubted and challenged. In recent years many international research projects have been initiated addressing various aspects of the dynamics of higher education institutions and systems, e.g. the changing academic profession; the changing funding basis of higher education institutions; the contributions of higher education to development; the professionalization of institutional leadership and management, etc. In the European context a large number of studies are undertaken aimed at contributing to our understanding of the effects of European integration on higher education. Also the projects funded by the EUROHESC programme of the European Science Foundation (ESF) offer an excellent opportunity for contributing to our understanding of the dynamics of higher education. Further, in a number of countries national Research Councils have signaled the growing importance of higher education as a object of research by stimulating in various ways research done in the area of higher education. Another indication is formed by the growing number of PhD students and post doctoral fellows doing research on higher education. This year’s CHER conference is aimed at ‘taking stock’ of the growing knowledge basis with respect to higher education with a special focus on the influence of reforms on the internal life of higher education institutions. While CHER is approaching its 25th anniversary, and the number of researchers in the field of higher education studies, as well as the number of scientific publications on higher education is growing, it is of importance for the further development of the field to ask where we are with our scientific knowledge on higher education, as well as how influential this knowledge is in the practice of higher education. The 23rd CHER conference offers a forum where research on higher education is presented, discussed and further developed, amongst other things, in view of outlining clusters of knowledge as well as knowledge gaps with respect to higher education.
Universities and colleges have in practically every society become the main institutionalized domains for handling knowledge. They have survived since their origin in more or less the same organizational form and with a consistent, globally recognizable academic staff structure, despite the fundamental changes taking place in their environments. Their core organizational building blocks are the knowledge areas around which chairs, departments, faculties, schools and centers are positioned. The population of universities and colleges consists of academic staff, students, and administrators, whose interactions determine the institutional day-to-day life. The relatively stable organizational and staff structures are features that still can be found in any higher education institution in the world. Nonetheless, despite these stable features higher education institutions regularly are faced with demands for dramatic changes. From that perspective there is a need to clarify the conditions under which higher education change is a fairly autonomous internal process, and the conditions under which internal processes are overwhelmed by wider political processes and socio-economic mobilization. We need to distinguish between incremental change and reforms in higher education within fairly stable organizational and normative frames, and change and reforms where the legitimacy of higher education’s mission,
CHER 2010 focuses on the effects of higher education reforms around the world, inviting especially researchers as well as research groups and networks studying different countries, in comparative perspective and from different theoretical angles. The conference is organised around five focal areas linked to current higher education reforms: a) The governance of higher education; b) Funding of higher education; c) Higher education and development; d) The changing academic profession; e) The relationship between higher education and professional learning.
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Table of Contents Thursday, 10 June 2010 Opening of the conference......................................................................................................6 Key note speech.......................................................................................................................6 Session 1 - Parallel track sessions ........................................................................................6
Track 1A – Governance of HE.......................................................................................6 Track 1B – Governance of HE.......................................................................................7 Track 2A – Funding of HE..............................................................................................8 Track 3 – HE & Development........................................................................................9 Track 4 – Academic Profession....................................................................................10 Track 5A – HE & Professional Learning...................................................................... 11
Session 2 - Parallel track sessions, PhD papers..................................................................12
Track 1A – Governance of HE......................................................................................12 Track 1B – Governance of HE......................................................................................13 Track 3 – HE & Development.......................................................................................14 Track 5 - HE & Professional Learning..........................................................................14
Session 3 - Parallel track sessions........................................................................................16
Track 1A – Governance of HE......................................................................................16 Roundtable session......................................................................................................17 Track 1B – Governance of HE......................................................................................17 Track 2B – Funding of HE.............................................................................................18 Track 3 – HE & Development.......................................................................................19 Track 4 - Academic Profession.....................................................................................20
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Friday, 11 June 2010 Burton Clark memorial session.............................................................................................22 Session 1 - Parallel track sessions........................................................................................22
Track 1A – Governance of HE......................................................................................22 Track 1B – Governance of HE......................................................................................23 Track 3 – HE & Development.......................................................................................24 Track 4 – Academic Profession....................................................................................25
Session 2 - Parallel track sessions........................................................................................26
Track 1A – Governance of HE......................................................................................26 Track 2Ba – Funding of HE...........................................................................................27 Track 3 – HE & Development.......................................................................................27 Track 4 – Academic Profession....................................................................................28 Track 4 – Academic Profession....................................................................................29 Track 5 - HE & Professional Learning...........................................................................30
Session 3 - Parallel track sessions.........................................................................................31
Track 1A – Governance of HE.......................................................................................31 Track 4 – Academic Profession....................................................................................32 Track 4 – Academic Profession....................................................................................32 Track 5C - HE & Professional Learing..........................................................................33
Saturday, 12 June 2010 Keynote panel ........................................................................................................................35 Session 1 - Parallel track sessions........................................................................................36
Track 1A – Governance of HE......................................................................................36 Track 2B – Funding of HE.............................................................................................37 Track 3 – HE & Development.......................................................................................37 Track 4 – Academic Profession....................................................................................38
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Thursday, 10 June, 2010 08.00 - 09.00
Registration of participants, hall of University library
09.00 - 09.30
Opening of the conference, Auditorium 1 Inga Bostad, Pro-Rector of the University of Oslo Ola Stafseng, Head of Research, Department of Education, Faculty of Education, University of Oslo
09.30 - 10.30
Key note speech 1, Auditorium 1 Nico Cloete, Director of Centre for Higher Education Transformation, South Africa “Higher Education and Development in Three OECD and Eight African Countries” This keynote presentation reports on a study, undertaken by the Higher Education Research and Advocacy Network in Africa, which investigated the complex links between higher education and development. This project studied three successful OECD systems on three different continents in order to identify the key strategies and practices that contribute to linking higher education and development. The study then investigated eight African countries, focusing on a leading university in each country. The African case studies show that, despite the fact that Africa is often depicted in a homogenous and somewhat pessimistic light, there are great differences in higher education and economic development policies and practices. There are also discernable differences amongst institutional leadership in terms of how higher education should contribute to development. In addition, it is argued that international funding/development agencies often have quite different notions as to the relationship between higher education and development in Africa, than is the case in their own countries.
10.30 - 10.45
Coffee break, basement floor
10.45 - 13.00
Session 1 - Parallel track sessions
Track 1A – Auditorium 1 Governance of HE: Autonomy, accountability and quality (chaired by Bjørn Stensaker)
Moraru, Luminita
This article emphasizes the work we have been doing to achieve high levels of quality teaching and learning in the Dunarea de Jos University of Galati (UDJ). The aim of this study is to design an evaluation model in order to promote the quality of the course. We present some of the results gathered at the monitoring process.
Bringing the organization into quality assessment system: An examination of the evaluation process inside organization 6
shaping the national configuration of the higher education system, affecting the relationships between the State, the HEIs, the intermediaries and the stakeholders. It assumes that path dependency affect the balance between these three factors, as it tends to maintain stable the national configuration.
Haapakorpi, Arja Jóhanssdóttir, Gyða Hansen Börkur Accountability in Higher Education in the Nordic countries – a comparative research
Cardoso, Sónia Santiago, Rui Sarrico, Cláudia S.
A comparison of Finland and Iceland Inherent in quality assurance standards related to Bologna agreement are tensions in emphasis that may contradict, such as between improvementoriented evaluation vs. external control and accountability, and between shared standards vs. unit specific sensitiveness. In this paper, we present a study that focuses on the reactions of Nordic countries (Iceland and Finland) to the quality assurance framework. The focus is on the adaption at the national level of the quality assurance framework.
The impact of quality assessment in Portuguese universities: students’ perceptions One of the main arguments legitimising the implementation of universities’ quality assessment is to give students information on the quality of these institutions and the education they provide. However, students seem to constitute one of the institutional groups less aware of quality assessment’s features and impact. This paper intends to discuss how students perceive this impact and the factors that might interfere with it. Based on the findings of a qualitative study addressing Portuguese students’ perceptions on quality assessment, it is possible to conclude that, to students, quality assessment does not seem to induce real changes in universities’ quality.
Reale, Emanuela Autonomy, accountability and academic freedom as factors shaping national configuration of higher education systems Autonomy is a flexible concept, subject to changes according to the different configurations between the State and the HEIs across time in different countries. The paper addresses the issue of the balance between autonomy, academic freedom and accountability as a factor
Track 1B – Auditorium 2 Governance of HE: Bologna, Europeanization and Globalization (chaired by Harry de Boer)
Chou, Meng-Hsuan Constructing the European Research Area: Policy Instruments and Pathways
Magalhães, António M. Santiago, Rui
This article identifies three distinct pathways, and the policy instruments activated, towards a Europe of Knowledge. Taking researcher mobility as case study, it shows how the idea of the ‘free movement of knowledge’ or the ‘fifth freedom’, as subsequently coined, travelled from one policy sector to another even before the Lisbon Treaty gave a legal base to the exercise of European Research Area formation. The analyses point to the fragmentary, unfinished, nature of the European polity as significant in these developments since this very quality contributes to its functioning as a fluid arena for actors ‘puzzling’ for responses and those ‘powering’ for authority. The article concludes that the factors driving the transformation of European Union (EU) would ensure its sustainability due to outcome ambiguity in complex political processes.
Implementing the EHEA. Beyond Bologna process This paper examines the tension between the roles played by the European Union in promoting European level higher education policies and the national higher education policies. The analysis is based on a transversal study focusing on the interaction between the European Union policies and the national higher education sectors in the countries involved in the Eurohesc project TRUE . This study focuses on three analytical dimensions: i) the Bologna process as an instrument for the creation of the EHEA; ii) the reform of higher education governing and governance; iii) the doctoral degree reforms.
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Elken, Mari Maassen, Peter
Klumpp, Matthias
The dynamics of the implementation of qualifications frameworks in Europe
EQF Implications on Universities: Changes in Accreditation, Access, Teaching and Evaluation
In Europe a growing policy focus on qualifications frameworks and learning outcomes can be observed. This is manifested in both the introduction of a qualifications framework for higher education in the Bologna process (QF-EHEA), and the European Qualifications Framework for Lifelong Learning (EQF) initiated by the EC. Formally, the two frameworks are complementary, but a question can be raised whether this actually represents the national realities. As such, this paper focuses on the dynamics of the implementation of qualifications frameworks in a number of European countries, drawing empirical data from a CEDEFOP-funded project in 13 European countries.
EQF implementation will urge universities to change specific areas in higher education teaching and learning. Today political processes are under way to specify the integration of HE degrees into the EQF eight level systems. But tomorrow individual university strategies and operational processes will be in a great need for change: Starting from the new output orientation and leading to completely new, competence oriented module designs and descriptions, even didactic concepts are going to be overhauled. Entrance concepts and groups will change as vocational degrees will be included in the EQF. The paper structures these coming change and drafts benchmark solutions.
Track 2A – Grupperom 4 Funding of HE: Organisational dimension of funding higher education (chaired by Romulo Pinheiro)
Lepori, Benedetto Montauti, Martina
identify and be classified into the same large groups. In other words, we aggregate institutions, when it is far more realistic and productive to disaggregate them. I use data in three areas – research funding, endowment, and athletics spending – to disaggregate institutions into three categories: haves, almosthaves, and have-nots. Although different universities fall into these categories in different areas, especially in athletics, the spread across them and divide points between them are remarkably similar whether looking at research, fundraising, or athletics.
Budgetary allocation and organizational change in higher education institutions. A review of existing studies and a framework for future research This paper will present a framework for the analysis of budgetary allocation in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to identify main open issues and to advance propositions for future empirical research. Based on a review of existing studies, it identifies two approaches to this topic: one considering budgetary allocation as a political process based on departmental power and one focusing on allocation rules, largely determined by social norms and political objectives at the level of the whole system. We argue that an integration of these perspectives is critical for understanding current budgeting practices and their impact on organizational change.
Leisyte, Liudvika University commercialization policies and their implementation in the Netherlands and USA The theoretical and empirical evidence on interaction between governments, universities, and industry suggests that university-industry linkages are important in contributing to economic development. Thus the understanding of the policy mechanisms that promote university commercialization as well as how are they translated in university settings in different countries is paramount. The goals of this study are to review the university commercialization policies in the Netherlands and the US and to unravel the uptake of those policies in research universities. We do so by investigating the university knowledge transfer structures and regulations, as well as existing collaboration types in both countries.
Toma, J. Douglas Drawing lines among U.S. institutions: Using research funding, endowment, and athletics budgets to disaggregate haves, almost-haves, and have-nots U.S. universities with decidedly different available resources – and thus in very different competitive positions – tend to self-
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Track 3 – Undervisningrom 2 HE & Development: Institutional governance and higher education (chaired by Leo Goedegebuure)
Martinez, Sergio
Oleksiyenko, Anatoly Chan, Manhoe
Academics governance legitimated within a de-legitimated tendency in higher education
From “Community Colleges” to “Private Universities”: Reframing the Hong Kong Community College System
Achievements on academics legitimacy participating in higher education policy planning and governance in Mexico over a long process of 25years are being challenged. Global demands and international university rankings on one side, and a very fast growing number of private higher education institutions on the other. Institutional differentiation within the system and alternative forms of communication between Higher Education and the System of Science and Innovation has provided academics a new space for their legitimate influence achieved. The study explores the capability of the policy planning machinery to sustain academic intervention in policy and academic management.
The paper explores the role of governmental policies, environmental pressures, leadership positions and institutional development tactics in affecting the decision of a couple of Hong Kong’s leading community colleges to abandon the borrowed North American model and build a partnership strategy to enable their transformation toward a private university. The governance and funding patterns of the strategy are explored. The analysis is followed by a discussion of the implications of the transformations for competitor community colleges affiliated with public universities, as well as for undergraduate education in the dynamic region of East Asia.
Lategan, Laetus
Chirikov, Igor Froumin, Isak
The impact of postgraduate supervision development at an emerging new university: a case study from South Africa
Triggers and Blocks for Inter-institutional Cooperation Several cases of inter-institutional cooperation in Russian higher education were studied intensively using field research procedures to reveal factors that facilitate and prohibit cooperation. Sets of institutional, market and policy-related factors were identified for each case. The main conclusions are: (i) linkages between universities and external actors such as regional authorities and local businesses positively correlated with the level of cooperation between universities; (ii) internal institutional structure and incentive system create barriers for inter-institutional cooperation; (iii) entrepreneurial universities are more willing to act together than “traditional” institutions.
In South Africa is postgraduate research less than 20 years old at the former technikons – now transformed in either universities of technology (UoTs) or merged into the comprehensive university system. National policies initiatives such as the National Plan on Higher Education or the Council on Higher Education’s implementation of the Higher Education Qualification Framework are supportive of postgraduate studies at the UoTs. This presentation will address the impact of a postgraduate supervision programme at an emerging new UoT. The paper will also discuss what trends can be identified and if these trends are in line with national developments.
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Track 4 – Undervisningrom 1 Academic Profession: CAP - the academic profession and research (chaired by Michele Rostan)
Kyvik, Svein Bentley, Peter Scientist and public communication: A survey of popular science publishing across 15 countries This paper provides a cross-national analysis of popular science publishing among academic staff in universities based on the Changing Academic Profession (CAP) survey undertaken in 2007-2008. The countries included in the study are: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, the UK, and the USA. Our findings suggest that popular science publishing is mainly undertaken by a minority of academics. Academics with popular publications have higher levels of scientific publishing and higher academic rank. The positive relationship between scientific and popular publishing is consistent across all countries and academic fields.
Padilla, Laura Metcalfe, Amy Gender Gaps in North American Research Productivity: Examining Faculty Publication Rates in Mexico, Canada, and the United States The present study addresses gender differences in North American research productivity, which may be influenced by personal and professional variables, as well as by institutional and discipline-related variables. The study was conducted as part of the Changing Academic Profession (CAP) International Survey, conducted in 2007. Using articles as the variable to measure academic productivity, we analyzed the gender gap in publication rates among full-time university faculty in our combined sample (Mexico, N=1973; USA, N=1146; Canada, N=1152).
Aarrevaara, Timo Hölttä, Seppo Marquina, Monica Pekkola, Elias Characterizing research efforts of academic profession in Argentina and Finland in the new era of research markets The purpose of the paper is to study the changing professional practices and responses of academic profession to the higher education system level reforms and their implementation at the institutional level in two countries with different higher education systems. The focus will be in the institutional level governance models and practices in research and how it reflects the system level changes. The data was collected 2007 and 2008 in a framework of international Changing Academic Profession (CAP)-survey including respondents’ views on research funding and institutional preconditions for co-operation in research.
Vabø, Agnete Spilling, Olav Gender imbalances in commercialisation of publicly funded research The objective of this paper is to analyse to what extent there are gender imbalances among academics involved in commercialisation of publicly funded research. The paper is based on data obtained as part of an evaluation of the FORNY programme, which is the most important programme for stimulating commercialisation of research in Norway.
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Track 5A – Undervisningrom 3 HE & Professional Learning: HE and working life (chaired by Monika Nerland)
Thune, Taran Pedersen, Trond-Einar Success factors in higher education – industry collaboration: a comparative case study of collaboration in the engineering field This paper reports on a study of cross-sector collaboration between regional universities/colleges and regional energy firms in Norway . The study’s main task was to provide information concerning the level and type of activities between firms and university/colleges in four regional partnerships. Secondly the study discusses possible success factors in higher education – industry relations, and uses such criteria to discuss the particular experiences in the four cases of regional collaboration.
Klumpp, Matthias Keuschen, Thomas Berufswertigkeit - A new Empirical Concept for Competence Evaluation from Professional Practice In the light of EQF and Lifelong Learning personal competence evaluation as output measurement for formal and informal learning is getting more and more important. From the perspective of professional practice (employability view) in Germany the concept of Berufswertigkeit was developed since 2007 in order to enable comparative research e.g. between persons holding different formal degrees from higher education, vocational training and professional experience. This concept consists out of 36 general criteria assessing a person’s capabilities especially for leadership positions in organizations. The paper presents selected results from the 2009 Berufswertigkeit survey in Germany.
Krawczyk-Radwan, Magdalena Antonowicz, Dominik Walczak, Dominika The Diploma Brand. Market Value of Higher Education Credentials in Poland – Employers’ Perspective The paper addresses the links between higher education to job market in Poland 20 years after the political and economic
13.00 - 14.00
Lunch, cafeteria
transformation. It focuses on the employers and the way they treat higher education diplomas held by job applicants. The aim of the analysis was to learn the criteria that the employers use to pre-select job candidates upon their higher education credentials, especially the diploma itself. The paper describes the role of higher education diploma under the transformation of higher education system from relatively small and stable (elite, in certain sense) to a huge, greatly diversified mass one.
Brorstad Borlaug, Siri Gulbrandsen, Magnus Between excellence and innovation - Research practices and tensions in Centres of Excellence and Expertise The paper investigates the tensions and challenges related to two relative new funding mechanisms within higher education: Centres of excellence and Centres of expertise. Both mechanisms aim at excellence whereas the latter also aim at innovation. Based on an empirical study of eight centres in Norway and Sweden we contend that the two different funding mechanisms contribute to a reinforcement of the old dichotomy between basic and applied science, making Centres of Excellence more attractive and exclusive to researchers even though they engage in similar research practices as Centres of Expertise.
Bekele, Teklu Abate Model of Professional Learning The knowledge-intensive nature of contemporary economies makes learning a truly lifelong engagement. Professional learning presumably sharpens institutions and professionals’ competitive edges and hence receives substantial policy and research attention worldwide. To improve our understating, studies ‘modelled’ prolearning across various contexts. Knowledge/epistemic cultures, knowledge maturing, organizational culture, content and communication-based contexts, learning across/in communities of practice, competence and knowledge management, and technology were sum of the major concepts considered. Individual studies, however, considered only limited issues at limited levels. This paper presents a general model of prolearning which defines success factors at psycho-cognitive, technologic, pedagogic, learning object, and institutional levels.
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14.00 - 16.00
Session 2 - Parallel track sessions, PhD papers
Track 1A – Auditorium 1 Governance of HE: Autonomy, accountability and quality (chaired by Åse Gornitzka)
Kuoppala, Kari Administrative costs and the new financial autonomy of the Finnish universities From the beginning of the year 2010 Finland got a new University law. According to this law universities get a new, more autonomous financial position; but what is more, financial responsibility of their own finances, too. Based on the internal organisation of universities, there are risks that the administrative costs rise as a consequence of the reform. In this paper these risks are analyzed particularly from the perspective of Finnish Centres of Excellence. Main research material is collected from the university documents and through the interviews of the leaders of these top research units.
Kauko, Jaakko Searching the Basic Dynamics of the Finnish Higher Education System I seek to broaden research in higher education (HE) from the perspective of a single policy to the political system. I ask, what are the basic dynamics of the Finnish HE system? My presentation will concentrate on theory, literature review and discussing the Finnish situation in relation to European trends. In analyzing the interview data, I will use polity analysis, a methodological tool that I developed for this purpose. Drawing on the data I find four trends in the HE system deriving from different features of the polity. Most importantly, it seems that the economical means restrict the strategic ends.
Bruckmann, Sofia Changes in Government and Management of Portuguese Higher Education Institutions In Portugal, Law 62/2007 (RJIES) created a new institutional framework for HE, from which stands out the possibility for HEIs to become Foundations or Public Institutes. The main purpose of this PhD project is to analyze how HEIs are responding to the RJIES in order to address if it implies a deep
transformation of traditional governance and management structures. Its specific aims are; to construct typologies of the different HEIs’ governance and management models; compare these models in Foundations and Public Institutes; to analyze the convergence / divergence degree of these new models with the political expectations of the RJIES.
Fumasoli, Tatiana University strategy making and structure: disentangling a complex relation This paper explores the nexus strategy/structure in academia. It analyzes university structural dimensions, strategy making characteristics, but also actors’ roles as well as normative and cultural-cognitive elements through a multiple case study on five Swiss HEIs. Findings show a variety of connections between strategy and structure: as strategy does produce reorganizations of competences and new distribution of power, shortcomings arise if significant internal balances of power are not adequately addressed. Universities display also different balances between inertia and change as they can gradually accommodate their structures, cyclically reorganize, reinforce existing frameworks, abruptly transform or engage in continuous change.
Diogo, Sara The influence of the Bologna Process in governance and management of Higher Education Institutions: a comparative study between Portugal and Finland The attention attributed to the Bologna Process (BP) emerges from institutional reforms driven by national governments in the last decade, aiming at converging a common area of Higher Education (HE). Due to the diversity of the 46 countries engaged, concerns with their HE systems’ organisation were raised, especially at a time of redefinition of powers among the actors involved. Through a comparative study between Portugal and Finland (PhD dissertation), one aims to analyse the influence of the BP in the governance and management of HEIs, namely changes within the organisational structure and in the composition and behaviour of their professionals.
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Track 1B – Undervisningrom 2 Governance of HE: Bologna, Europeanization and Globalization (chaired by Nicoline Frølich)
Primeri, Emilia Reale, Emanuela
the main policy actors of the Process and questions the effects of the Process reforms on the social dimension.
How Europe shapes academic research: insights from the Departments and research groups’ participation to European Framework Programmes
Weimer, Leasa The Erasmus Mundus Policy Story: A discourse analysis.
The European Framework Programmes draw challenging goals, exerting pressures on academic institutions organization, rules, collaborations and human resources. The paper explores the effects of the participation to the EUFPs on Departments and research groups of different scientific areas, from an institutional perspective and exploiting also the concept of institutionalization, through the case study of the University La Sapienza in Rome. Results highlight how EUFPs trigger limited changes for few experienced Departments and research groups of some scientific areas, already strongly competitive and embedded in international networks, holding steady or tailing off less experienced groups and without affecting new groups participation.
According to the policy documents, the overall aim of the European Union sponsored Erasmus Mundus program is to increase the attractiveness and quality of European higher education. Yet, the underlying discourse of the policy documents uses symbols, numbers, and language to portray European higher education as “lagging behind” in the global race to be a leading knowledge economy. Stone (2002) suggests that every policy has a story, “Stories are so useful in politics because their drama is emotionally compelling, and sometimes blinding.” The proposed study analyzes the Erasmus Mundus policy documents in search of the policy story.
Yagci, Yasemin
Elken, Mari
Effects of the Bologna Process on the Social Dimension of Higher Education
Understanding the EQF This paper is based on the first stage of a project analysing one of the examples of an emerging European level of governance in higher education – the European Qualifications Framework (EQF), both by looking at the process of development (actors, conditions, process) and the application process (translation). At this point, the focus is on the development of EQF, identifying the different elements, conditions and actors of the development process. The empirical data includes documents from the consultancy process.
Since its appearance in the Bologna Process in 2001, the social dimension has remained rather ambiguous and was only loosely related to other action lines of the Process until 2005. In 2005, the social dimension developed into a proper action line; however, its goals and means to achieve them have kept on changing and expanding which made the social dimension more encompassing, as well as more blurred. This contribution aims to unfold the main features of the social dimension according to
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Track 3 – Undervisningrom 1 HE & Development (chaired by Gerald Ouma)
Pinheiro, Romulo Universities and Regions: Balancing Local and Universal Aspirations The study investigates how universities across three national/ regional settings balance their local embeddedeness (regional mission) with their universalistic aspirations, and the extent through which their core activities are affected in the process. Conceptually, the study builds upon the notion that universities are highly complex organisational entities and that their activities can best be characterised as being located along two interconnected but nonetheless relatively disctinct internal domains, an academic core and an extended periphery. Theoretically, the study recurs to the classic distinction between instrumental (rationalistic) and institutional (naturalistic) accounts of collective behaviour, particularly as it pertains to dynamics of change/ stability.
Bisaso, Ronald Building the responsive capacities of African higher education management: Perspectives from the Learning Organization Theory
With the advent of higher education reforms in Africa, institutional management responded by adopting extensive decentralization as a strategy for enhancing adaptation in academic and financial management. However, this has increasingly curtailed coordination and integration of the responses of the university as an entity to its unpredictable environment. On that basis, this paper elucidates the learning organization theory as an interpretive framework that can contribute to understanding the processes of building and re-building the integrative responsive capacities of institutional management for Africa.
Babyesiza, Akiiki Higher education governance within the scope of post conflict reconstruction in Southern Sudan The topic of the paper is based on my PhD research on higher education governance in Southern Sudan. In 2008 I conducted thirty-four semi-structured interviews with members of the top management of universities and ministries of the national, regional and local level, with representatives of national stakeholders and international organisations in Sudan. In my paper I will present the findings of my fieldwork and offer a model of coordination of higher education in postcolonial crisis states, which adds a new perspective to the study of higher education governance to date.
Track 5 - Auditorium 2 HE & Professional Learning (chaired by Karen Jensen)
Sweetman, Rachel The value of a degree in comparative context: student perceptions, rates of return and policy trends in Norway and England Against the background of converging European HE systems, this paper offers a comparative perspective in the value of a degree from a student perspective. The study explores how undergraduate students construct and understand the value of their degree and how far are their views in line with, or in tension with, wider approaches to defining on value found in national policy and the measureable financial returns to education. It is based on discussion groups with economics and biol-
ogy students in Oslo and London, and finds important national and disciplinary difference in students’ views on the value of their degree.
Hatlevik, Ida The impact of a deep learning approach, perceptions of academic quality and evaluation of practice placement on acquired professional competence: A comparative study between Norwegian schoolteacher- and nurse students 14
This paper examines empirically the relationship between Teaching Quality, Quality of the Practice placement, a Deep Approach to learning and Acquired Professional Competence in nurse and schoolteacher education, using Structural Equation Modelling to analyze data from a student survey among third year nurse and schoolteacher students in Norway collected in 2007. The results indicate that Teaching Quality significantly influences students’ Acquired Professional Competence in both educations, Quality of the Practice Placement significantly influence Acquired professional Competence only among nurse students. Teaching Quality significantly influence having a Deep Approach to learning only among schoolteacher students.
Thirolf, Kate Identity Discourses of Part-time Faculty The percentage of part-time faculty has grown considerably, both in Europe and the United States. Despite the range of literature on this topic, few studies have investigated the faculty identity formation of adjuncts. To address this gap, this study analyzes discourses of adjuncts at an American community college to determine their faculty identity development. Findings show their faculty identity development is precarious at best and detrimental at worst. The strongest source of their faculty identity derives from their love of teaching, but they also struggle with the negative societal-level discourse about adjuncts and their positioning vis-à-vis their full-time colleagues.
16.00 - 16.15
Afdal, Hilde Policy processes for teacher education: The case of Norway and Finland This article analyses how theoretical and ideological frames for teacher education are established in Norway and Finland. A historical review provides an image of the nature of teacher educations’ relationship with the state over time and an analysis of contemporary “models” add to the contextualization of present teacher educations. The aim is to contribute to a discussion on development of teacher education and if such processes is “path dependent” and represents different traditions and conceptions of knowledge. If so, what do different models for governance entail for knowledge structures in teacher education?
Wyatt , Adam TM Educating the Big Fish: Executive Management Programs in Higher Education Institutions Market-driven behaviours permeate academic institutions. One specific aspect of these behaviours is the creation of executive management programs, particularly in schools of management and business. This study examines the organizational structure, markets, and professional development opportunities related to offering executive programs. Programs from three universities, both public and private, in three different geographic regions - North America, Europe, and Africa- will be used as case study examples of this global phenomenon. Analyses show remarkable similarities among organizational structure but also high degrees of variance across these universities, especially with intended markets and professional learning opportunities available.
Coffee break, basement floor
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16.15 - 18.15
Session 3 - Parallel track sessions
Track 1A – Auditorium 2 Governance of HE: Autonomy, accountability and quality (chaired by Bjørn Stensaker)
Ala-Vähälä, Timo
Musial, Kazimierz
What makes implementation necessary when it is not legally stated? The implementation of the Finnish system of extent quality assurance
Operational models and elective strategies of universities in the post-industrial age – the case of the Nordic countries
My presentation analyzes the question of legitimacy of the Finnish system of auditing the quality assurance systems of the higher education institutions. The main question is why the HEIs accepted the new system even though there were no legal obligations. This question will be analyzed from the points of view of resource dependence theory and from the discussions about isomorphic trends in higher education. The main sources are interviews and official documents.
Pfeffer, Thomas Quality of study programs at the University of Vienna: Sensemaking in times of reform overload The paper reports about an organisational development project at the University of Vienna, that focused on the quality of study programmes, especially on a joint understanding for describing the quality of study programs and on an attempt to integrate different internal processes into a comprehensive quality management for the development, implementation and improvement of study programs. These developments will be analyzed towards concepts of standardisation and regulation of institutional management, asking about the relationship between the standardisation of degrees and the standardisation of management approaches.
The paper is meant to provide a comparative overview of different university operational models that have been pursued in formulating the educational policies in the Nordic countries. Five model categories have been chosen. These models are presented as discursive ideals used in the public debates and in the process of policy making. The paper demonstrates that these ideals have had a very palpable impact on the institutionalisation resulting from the higher education reforms. In each of these categories analysed discourses and structures are furnished with examples from the whole Nordic area and discussed as imminent effects of the reforms.
Rebora, Gianfranco Turri, Matteo Research assessment in Italian universities: characteristics, consequences and significance. Four years after the conclusion of the first national research assessment exercise, the Italian university system is approaching a second, more far-reaching detailed cycle. Analysis of the adopted assessment frameworks and reflections on the growing effects of assessment on relations between universities and the Ministry raise the issue of whether, and in what way, the introduction of assessment mechanisms is linked to change in Italian university governance systems.
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Roundtable session - Auditorium 1 ESF EUROCORES/EuroHESC Session (chaired by Mala Singh)
Välimaa, Jussi Hoffman, David Institutional Profiles in a Mixed-Methods International Comparative Study The goals of this panel discussion are to present Institutional Profiles of HEIs in six countries, facilitate critique and highlight complexity. Because these profiles form the basis for purposeful selection of case studies in an international, comparative, mixed-methods study, this linkage is critical. Data collection and analysis was based on direct observation, analysis of texts and interviews. The methodological advantage in choosing an approach at a low-level of abstraction has allowed project partners to challenge assumptions – across countries. The panel will focus on the benefits, challenges and implications of distinguishing between the institutional profiles and case studies.
Track 1B – Undervisningrom 1 Governance of HE: Governance reforms (chaired by Michele Rostan)
Gornitzka, Åse Maassen, Peter Governance reforms and the Nordic model: Policy on steroids or sedation? Common European agendas and ‘global scripts’ suggest that there is a convergence in HE reform focus and intended reform outcomes. At the same time the reform instrumentation and outcomes show an increasing inter-country diversity when it comes to institutional legal status and level of autonomy, institutional governance structure and public funding mechanisms. In this paper we will discuss the validity of the common agenda and global script assumption. The purpose of the paper is presenting a first step towards a systematic analysis of governance reform with respect to higher education in three ‘same class cases’, i.e. the three Nordic countries, and towards accounting for reform patterns in theoretical terms that go beyond the traditional ‘one-perspective’ interpretations and explanations of HE reform dynamics.
Frølich, Nicoline Stensaker, Bjørn Thune, Taran Governance reforms, organizational change and performance in higher education: what’s the relation? The purpose of this paper is to address a fundamental research problem concerning governance reforms in higher education namely the fact that governance reforms have seemingly limited impact and that higher education institutions (HEIs) seem to be resistant to change as response to external demands. Stability rather than change is a common pattern found in studies that have investigated the influence of governance reforms in higher education. Both empirically-based and more theoretically-based explanations is offered for this pattern, with reference to aspects like institutional structures, traditions and culture of academic organizations (Clark 1983) and to policy formulation and implementation processes (Gornitzka et al. 2005; Van Meter and
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Van Horn 1975). Governance reforms are often not implemented or do not produce the desired changes, due to the autonomy of the HEIs and relative freedom of its academic staff, the lack of strategic leadership and the loosely coupled character of the organizations (Gornitzka et al. 2005). On the other hand, governance reforms in higher education are complex, consist of many and sometimes contradictory reform elements and are often broad descriptions of desired changes rather that prescriptions in terms of goals, instruments and incentives that will support the development of desired behaviours in HEIs. With this in mind, this paper aim at contributing to the research literature on effects of governance reforms by looking at this problem from two different angles.
Naidoo, Rajani New Constellations of Governance: Inter-Hegemonic Rivalry and Changing Relations in International Higher Education Theories on the competition state and inter-hegemonic rivalry are applied to analyse the interaction of national and global governance in higher education. Governance mechanisms developed by older hegemons in Europe and the United States of America and by emerging powers such as China are explored. Diverse strategies to enhance global competitiveness
and to export higher education both as a commodity and as a means to assert regional and global influence is analysed. Increased articulation as well as dis-articulation between the state, market and trans-national organisations and the strengthening and destabilising of different elements of the governance apparatus are revealed.
Suebnusorn, Wanwisa The ‘Diploma Disease’ and Higher Education Reform in the Time of Economic Crisis: A Comparative Study of Thailand’s Higher Education Reforms in 1999 and in 2009 The aim of this paper is to critically examine the interrelationships between the ‘Diploma Disease’, higher education reform, and economic crisis during two periods of Thailand educational reforms; namely, in 1999 and in 2009. A secondary analysis of archival data from both international and national sources will be carried first and then followed by surveys and interviews with various stakeholders using both quantitative and qualitative research approaches. The solid empirical evidences will be used to supplement the guiding theoretical framework of the study and the results will be used to address the above-mentioned interrelationship.
Track 2B – Grupperom 4 Funding of HE: Funding and performance (chaired by Ben Jongbloed)
Sivertsen, Gunnar
Kalpazidou Schmidt, Evanthia
Experiences with performance based funding using complete data for the scientific publication output at Higher Education Institutions
Reforms of funding mechanisms for higher education – Linking funding to research performance
In 2005, Norway implemented a performance based funding model for the Higher Education Sector with an indicator based on complete data for the scientific publication output at the level of institutions. The same indicator was implemented in Denmark in 2009. Flanders (Belgium) aims at adding a similar indicator with data from the social sciences and humanities to the so called BOF-key in 2011. This study investigates the effects in Norway, qualitatively by looking at the main debates, problems and changes at the level of institutions, and quantitatively by using data from 40,000 (fractionalized) publications (20052009) in Norway’s Higher Education Sector.
Reforms of higher education governance, granting increased institutional autonomy have been carried out in many countries. As a result, there have also been outlined national strategies to ensure the financial sustainability of higher education. Changes in the funding system for higher education, linking funding to research outcome, have recently been introduced in Denmark. Linking funding to research performance is a new phenomenon, while linking funding to education has been practiced for a long time. The paper discusses the new system based on a survey carried out among stakeholders on the intended/unintended effects of the funding system on higher education.
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Suzuki, Yuka Hanada, Shingo
Ness, Erik Research Utilization in U.S. State-level Funding Policy: The role of intermediary organizations and implications for Europe
Seeking the Excellence: the 21st Century COE (Center of Excellence) Program in Japan The 21st Century COE (Center of Excellence) Program is a national research and education grant program to create world-class universities in Japan. The program provided 190 billion yen ($1.9 billion) in funds to 274 research centers in 93 universities from 2002 to 2007. Even though the allocation of funds to each research center was rather small in light of the goal to create world-class research centers, the COE program seems to have made a considerable contribution to the higher education reform through introducing competition to the national universities and encouraging better graduate education.
Connecting research and policy persists as one of higher education’s most pressing challenges. Yet, the extent to which states rely on research evidence to craft policy remains under-studied. This comparative case study of student funding policy in three U.S. states examines how policymakers utilize research, including the various sources of information and the role of intermediary organizations such as government agencies and policy consortia. Findings emerge related to the instrumental, conceptual, and political use of information, most notably the substantial influence of policy entrepreneurs and policy organizations on research utilization. Finally, the study discusses conceptual and policy implications for Europe.
Track 3 – Undervisningrom 2 HE & Development: Educational development (chaired by Berit Karseth)
Van Andel, Jeroen A longitudinal survey study on demand-driven education as practiced within a Dutch UAS To enable individual students to ‘personalize’ their programme of study the majority of Dutch Universities of Applied Sciences (UASs) have adopted a new concept commonly known as ‘demand-driven education’. Education can be seen as ‘demand-driven’ when students are enabled to choose what education will be provided to them during a particular semester. Although widely adopted by a variety of Dutch UASs little to no research has been done on demand-driven education as it is practiced within these UASs. To gain insight in how ‘demand-driven education’ is practiced within a UAS we performed a large-scale survey study at Windesheim UAS.
Terenzini, Patrick T. Reason, Robert D Toward a More Comprehensive Understanding of College Effects on Student Learning This paper proposes a comprehensive conceptual framework of college effects on students. It incorporates the typical areas of
study (e.g., students’ in- or out-of-class experiences), but also internal organizational features (structures, programs, policies, faculty culture) hypothesized to potential improvements over the conventional institutional descriptors (e.g., size, mission, selectivity), shown to be ineffective net predictors of student learning. The paper also distils from the research literature six “principles” underlying effective educational settings. Together, the model and principles suggest the need for a systemic approach to studying college effects, developing and evaluating programs, and guiding quality assurance activities.
Moir, James Developing Graduate Attributes for the 21st Century: The Scottish Enhancement Theme Approach Higher education is in a state of transformation across the world. There is concurrently a need to towards a sector that innovatively adds value to the process of social transformation as well as the development of graduate employability skills. One of the major higher education reforms in Scotland that has tried to tackle these issues is the ‘The Graduates in the 21st Century Enhancement Theme’. This approach aims to encourage Scottish higher education institutions to focus on the development and integration of graduate attributes within programmes of study. This papers offers a sympathetic and yet critical appraisal of this approach.
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Chan, Yiu Kong
Pechar, Hans Andres, Lesley Skill Formation at Secondary and Tertiary Level: A Welfare Regime Perspective
The Relationship between Gender, Age, Study Mode, Learning Approaches and Academic Achievement: The Case of Hong Kong Sub-degree Students
Participation in and graduation from tertiary level institutions continues to expand across OECD, but at different paces in countries with similar economic performance. One explanation for this variance is the different cultures of vocational training at the secondary level. In cross-national comparisons of different patterns there is a tendency to favour expansion at the tertiary level over emphasis on vocational training at the secondary level. In this paper, we examine different approaches to – and outcomes of – education in relation to skill formation within the context of a welfare regime framework.
Biggs’s 3P model on student learning has identified the relationship among individual difference, learning approaches and academic achievement in higher education. Many studies have been explored this relationship on Western tertiary students. Comparatively little is known about such relationship in Hong Kong Chinese sub-degree context. The research aims to investigate the interrelationships of gender, age, study mode, learning approaches and academic achievement among Hong Kong sub-degree full-time and part-time students. It is hypothesised that gender, age, study mode influence learning approaches and subsequently affect academic achievement.
Track 4 - Undervisningrom 3 Academic Profession (chaired by Svein Kyvik)
Ryan, Suzanne Neumann, Ruth Interdisciplinarity in Management Education: Tensions among curriculum, profession and the university in a decade of change Results from a longitudinal study of Australian business academics are used to examine the impact of government policy and institutional change on engagement in interdisciplinary teaching and research. Management education is a multidisciplinary field where, despite continual pleas for greater interdisciplinarity in teaching and research from scholars and practitioners alike, the attainment of interdisciplinarity remains elusive. While disciplinary identity is a common barrier to interdisciplinarity, the nature and culture of graduate business schools were potentially able to overcome this barrier until the introduction of a national research measurement policy along with subsequent institutional restructuring revived the disciplinary silos.
Goastellec, Gaele Benninghoff, Martin Becoming an academic in Switzerland: changes in career structures and trajectories
This paper analyses changes in the career structure and trajectories of faculties in Switzerland. During the last decades, the Swiss higher education system has faced important reforms - both concerning its structure and its governance - that impact on academic careers. In order to analyse the relation between the reforms of Higher education reforms and academic career, this paper is structured in three parts: 1) describing the main changes that occurred in Higher education governance in Switzerland; 2) presenting quantitative data relative to academic trajectories; 3) discussing structural changes in academic careers.
Hauss, Kalle Kaulisch, Marc Career aspirations of young researchers in the context of doctoral education reforms in Germany. The role of structured programs in shaping individual career goals In our presentation we draw attention to career aspirations of doctoral candidates at German universities and investigate probable effects resulting from current reforms. Currently, the emergence of structured doctoral programs has provoked a shift in perspective on the traditional doctorate in Germany. We expect individual career preferences to be affected by these structural changes. Using data from a longitudinal survey of doctoral candidates at German universities, we compare career aspirations of individuals from structured programs with those in traditional contexts.
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Kuyini, Ahmed Bawa Teacher and student roles in university teaching and learning: Exploring the contribution of The Theory of Planned Behaviour. Some researchers have explored models to investigate how to stimulate student motivation to participate in online learning. However these explain only aspects of the problem of
18.30 - 20.00
teaching and learning in higher education online environments. And one area that needs further exploration is the intricate relationship between teacher action and student reaction and/or decision to engage with learning. This paper proposes a model based on The Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen, 1985) as to encapsulate the effect of teacher decisions on what students do, including motivation to participate in learning activities. It will also present results of a small scale study.
Reception
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Friday, 11 June, 2010 09.00 - 11.00
Burton Clark memorial session, Auditorium 1 Chaired by Guy Neave Participants: Mary Henkel, Barbara Kehm, Peter Maassen and Roberto Moscati In this session CHER will commemorate Burton Clark’s seminal influence upon the study of higher education in Europe. This will be done through four presentations of HE researchers from four different countries, i.e. the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy. The following questions will be the starting point for the presentations: How did Burton Clark influence ideas about higher education and higher education research in the countries in question, and Europe in general? What has been his impact on the development of the field of higher education research? Guest of honour at this session is Mrs. Adele Clark.
11.00 - 11.15
Coffee break, basement floor
11.15 - 13.00
Session 1 - Parallel track sessions, PhD papers
Track 1A - Auditorium 1 Governance of HE: Autonomy, accountability and quality (chaired by Harry de Boer)
Melo, Ana Isabel Co-Author: Cláudia S.
Henriques, Zita The Evolution in Contexts of Higher Education Policy Making in Portugal
How have performance management systems affected governance structures in Portugal: a case study
The aim of this PhD project is to characterize the evolution of the policy making context of higher education (HE) in Portugal. The study will address two main periods, corresponding to two legislative reforms, stressing the role of key actors in its formulation and implementation. Theoretically, the concept of policy will be defined and theories on the process of police formulation/implementation will be discussed. These theories are: the Bounded Rationality (Herbert Simon), the Sequential Analysis (Charles Jones), the Open Method of Coordination and the Public Cycle Approach (Stephen Ball and Richard Bowe).
The aim of this paper is to understand the influence of performance management systems on the roles of key actors in the governance of universities. Results from a high performing Portuguese university show that, even though there has been a substantial increase in the measurement of performance in most areas, there is not yet an information system able to gather all the information. In terms of governance, there has been a centralisation of authority and a change in the roles of key actors, mainly academics, whose ‘managerial accountability’ has increased, and lay members, whose influence became gradually important.
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Nellum, Christopher Governance Structures & Student Mobility: Lessons Learned from Policy Shifts in the United States and the European Union This paper will discuss two examples of governance structures that influence student mobility. Specifically, this study will delineate the intended and unintended consequences of governmental intervention in processes germane to postsecondary education (e.g., access), and uncover similarities and differences between American and European approaches to supporting, facilitating, and influencing student mobility.
Kosmützky, Anna How do Mission Statements of Universities cope with Academic Identities and Organizational Images? The paper examines the contribution of mission statements of German universities to promote organizational identities of
universities and reveals identity strategies of mission statements coping with organizational images and academic identities.* * My paper is based on research conducted in my dissertation and will best be presented in the Phd and postdoc session.
Elisabeth Hovdhaugen Reduced transfer and dropout hazard after the reform? One of the main intentions of the comprehensive higher education reform in Norway in 2003 was to improve student performance. This paper investigates dropout and transfer rates in two cohorts using event history analysis. Preliminary analyses indicate that the dropout rate is stable, but that the rate of transfer has decreased somewhat after the reform. However, the rate of student departure is still at a relatively high level, and will as such continue to have economic consequences for the institutions.
Track 1B – Auditorium 2 Governance of HE: Bologna, Europeanization and Globalization (chaired by Hsuan Chou)
Vukasovic, Martina Changes in teaching and research in three flagship universities from the former Yugoslavia: assessing the effects of Europeanisation of higher education The paper will offer a theoretical framework for the analysis of effects of European level processes on organisation of teaching and research in the three flagship universities in former Yugoslavia, exploiting the opportunity to analyse Europeanization in new member and candidate countries in a quasi-experimental setting. The paper will begin with a discussion of what effects of Europeanization are expected in terms of organisation of teaching and research, followed by an analysis of possible mechanisms of Europeanization. Alternative pressures to change, which may originate from regional, national or institutional idiosyncrasies will also be discussed.
Luescher, Thierry On Justifying Student Participation in University Governance This paper seeks to make a theoretical contribution to the knowledge base on institutional governance investigating the
justification of student participation in university governance. Firstly, it offers a critique of the theoretical approaches of recent studies on student participation. It then specifically discusses key claims brought for and against student involvement in university decision-making articulated from a variety of perspectives. Finally, the claims are integrated within a broader framework for studying university governance. Thus the paper offers a fresh perspective on the uniqueness justifying universities’ claims to a special governance approach under emerging and new conditions.
Olson, Jeniffer Resources for Higher Education: “pushing” and “pulling” international students to Germany Rationales prompting the German government and the country’s higher education institutions to recruit and enroll international students can be simplified into two main categories: minds and money. The German case highlights how national governments have latched onto the international student mobility rhetoric and begun implementing changes that require universities to adapt to an international competitiveness market and work towards attracting more international students. The motives for Germany to increase the number of international
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students are related to both financial and intellectual growth following the examples of the Anglo-American countries. The financial incentives to attract international students are most clearly seen in the UK and Australia policies and discourses. Australian universities’ revenue from full-fee paying international students’ tuition fees grew from 5.8 percent in 1995 to 14.5 percent in 2004 of the total revenue for the higher education sector; while in the UK income from full-fee paying students increased 27.9 percent from 1995 to 2000 and in 2002 accounted for 9.9 percent of higher education institutions’ overall income (Marginson and van der Wende, 2007). In addition to funding, international students have been linked with the success of the US’ “Big Science” programs, providing universities with further resources and more prestige (Black
and Stephan, 2007).
Mehmeti, Elona Higher Education vouchers in Albania After being supported for so many years by the state, “used”, reformed, changed, and politicized it seems that higher education in Albania now is changing face again. From a public good, higher education is being transformed into a private good, for the sake of being more manageable, with the aim of offering a better quality and a more egalitarian higher education. As a consequence “quality” and “equity” have become the main points of the Albanian government’s reform which is trying to implement its program, among others, through a voucher system.
Track 3 – Undervisningrom 1 HE & Development (chaired by Peter Maassen)
Cader, Hanas Co-Author: Al-Omran, Aisha
James, Ellis
Effectiveness of Private Higher Education Initiatives in Kuwait
Expanding Social Networks and Capital for Low Income Students and Parents Participating in College Preparatory Programs
Recent trends in the growth of private universities in the GCC countries highlight the national priorities of the governments to improve the human capital and to bring desirable economic development. This research examines the challenges that are faced by Kuwait to uplift the quality of education to meet national and international standards. Results indicate there is a serious shortcoming for feedback mechanisms for quality university education. Some of the initiatives taken by some private universities are its primary stage to introduce a feedback mechanism for quality education.
Access to higher education will continue to be an important issue for low income families around the world. Thus, higher education scholars must conduct innovative research and collaborate with college preparatory programs in order to evaluate the effectiveness of such programs. Not only do college preparatory programs need to evaluate the success of its participants at a student level but also at a familial level. College preparatory programs will need to head in a new direction that will concentrate its programming and evaluation efforts to increase social networks and social capital regarding postsecondary education for student- parent/guardian dyads.
Jackson, Louise
Barlete, Aliandra
Language Policy and Access to Higher Education: A South African Case Study
Inter-regionalism in Higher Education: Shaping the ALCUE Common Area
Far from being a simple policy choice for universities, institutional language policies are powerful instruments for improving access or conversely maintaining inequality. Using the South African case as an example, this paper will seek to examine the impact institutional and national language policy has on access to higher education. Institutional language policy documents from three public universities, as well as data underscoring trends from 2004 to 2008 will inform this thesis. This is that certain institutional language policies, in this post apartheid democracy, limit African and Black access to higher education.
The proposed paper aims at exploring the process of shaping an inter-regional common area in higher education among the European Union and the Latin America and Caribbean regions. The so-called ALCUE common area will be composed by 60 national systems, and should be established by 2015. The arguments for analysing the common area were drawn from the neo-institutionalist approach, as well as from theories of regional integration based on the European perspective. Results reveal the main challenges for the ALCUE are related to the process’ governance and leadership, definition of objectives, and the systematic integration in other areas.
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Track 4 - Undervisningrom 2 Academic Profession (chaired by Agnete Vabø)
Cai, Yuzhuo The integration of academic staff cultures following institutional mergers The aim of this study was to discover the factors that affect the integration of academic staff in a post-merger Chinese university focusing on the cultural dimension, within a framework of institutional organisation theory. As such, hypotheses were developed to examine the relationship between a number of independent variables and cultural integration as the dependent variable. As results, three factors were identified as being vital in the integration of academic staff from institutions with different cultures. These were: cultural compatibility, transparency of management, and whether or not the status of the merged institution was higher than before the merger.
Burt, Brian Surviving and striving: African American doctoral candidates in engineering at a predominantly White institution The underrepresentation of African Americans in STEM highlights a missing segment of the population who could contribute to the knowledge economy. As a national concern, stakeholders need additional research to create strategies that increase the number of African Americans who enroll and graduate from STEM graduate programs. This study used Tinto’s (1993) theory of doctoral persistence to frame interviews designed to understand how participants experienced a STEM doctoral program. Several themes emerged from the prelimi-
13.00 - 13.45
nary findings, including: resilience, confidence, and networks of support. The findings from this study have implications for European reform efforts in strengthening STEM.
Ates, Guelay Doctoral programmes in Austria Doctoral programmes are in flux. In general, an adjustment towards structured programmes can be seen as a worldwide trend. By reference to the Austrian situation my presentation focuses on changes of and influences on the academic career path by distinguishing between individual and structured doctoral programmes. I will show how Austrian universities cope with soft as well as strict entrance limitations. And finally, I will compare the Austrian situation with other European Countries.
Park, Elke The Erosion of Tenure and the (e)state of the professoriate Tenure is one of the concepts at the heart of the academic profession. However, an “appointment revolution” (Schuster and Finkelstein 2006) is taking place and as recent studies show the number of tenured positions has dramatically declined in favour of other, less secure forms of employment. This paper will focus on changes in academic work contracts and the rise of part-time or non tenure track positions. For means of international comparability with countries that do not know the tenure system I will try to establish a comparative analysis of contract provisions and dismissal clauses in various countries.
Lunch, cafeteria
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13.45 - 15.45
Session 2 - Parallel track sessions
Track 1A – Auditorium 1 Governance of HE: Autonomy, accountability and quality (chaired by Don Westerheijden)
Sarrico, CS Rosa, MJ Higher education quality assessment: an account of intended purposes and observed effects The rationale of this paper is to first propose a conceptual typology of intended purposes for quality assessment: communication, motivation, control, improvement, and innovation. We then review the literature on the impact of quality assessment in higher education, using as a framework for analysis the proposed typology, to assess to what extent and at what level there are effects resulting from those purposes.
Hedmo, Tina Towards a European Quality Assurance System In this paper, the shaping and organizing of the quality policy agenda in the Bologna process, resulting in the construction of comparable European standards and EQAR, is described and analyzed. The paper seeks to shed light on the implications of the Bologna quality initiatives on the quality expansion in Europe and concludes with a number of reflections on what consequences this development also might bring for university governance. The study is analyzed from a transnational or multi-level governance perspective (c.f. Djelic and SahlinAndersson, 2006).
Bastedo, Michael Bowman, Nicholas Anchoring Bias in World University Rankings When people make judgments in which the answer is ambiguous, they often start with a particular value that is available to them, and then adjust (insufficiently) from this value when making their final judgment. This is called an anchoring effect. Examining several years of the recent Times Higher Education world university rankings, we find significant anchoring effects.
Controlling for previous reputational assessments and other factors, the inaugural university rankings have a significant effect on institutional reputation, whereas no such effect is apparent for subsequent years of the rankings.
Papadimitriou, Antigoni Ursin, Jani Higher education policies and their effects on universities – the cases of quality reform in Greece and university mergers in Finland The purpose of the paper is to study organizational change of universities in Greece and Finland from the perspectives of quality reform (Greece) and university mergers (Finland). What do these reforms reveal about the dynamics of different HE policy contexts and interplay between macro and micro levels? The data in both countries consists of documents and interviews with academic staff and students. In order to answer the research question we will pull together theories from policy convergence and/or divergence, policy implementation and neo-institutional theory.
Lepori, Benedetto Fumasoli, Tatiana Mapping and explaining diversity and differentiation processes in Swiss higher education This paper presents an analysis of differentiation processes in Swiss higher education in the period 1990-2007. We first analyse systems’ boundaries and organizational forms, documenting a process of strong expansion of the field (both in terms of resources and number of students), as well as the emergence of a new distinctive form, namely Universities of Applied Sciences, alongside universities and professional education institutions. Second, we provide a quantitative analysis of diversity of institution alongside different dimensions of their profile (research vs. education, subject specialisation etc.), as well as of its evolution in the considered period.
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Track 2Ba – Grupperom 4 Funding of HE: Effects of policy on funding (tuition fees) (chaired by Bruce Johnstone)
Franke, Ray Purdy, William C. Financing higher education – lessons from the United States and implications for Europe Two of Europe’s goals in higher education reform are to review student fees and to allow Europeans the use of grants and loans anywhere on the Continent they seek tertiary education. Before reforms proceed, lessons from across the Atlantic ought to be learned. We will demonstrate here the experiences of the United States by reviewing and analyzing recent data on federal, state, and institutional student aid programs, showcasing which practices work best—all toward the goal of providing a template for Europe. We particularly focus on federal, state, and institutional grants (merit and need-based), and on federal educational tax credits.
Wangenge-Ouma, Gerald Tuition fees in higher education: the challenge of making higher education a popular commodity in South Africa The funding of higher education in South Africa has continuously been a subject of animated debate. At present, the debate is mainly about free higher education. Unlike most African
countries, South Africa has an established history of cost sharing. However, for a while now, students have been demanding tuition free higher education. This paper is a sequel to the debate on free higher education in South Africa. It seeks, in the main, to understand and examine the rationale and drivers for the students demand for free higher education. Is cost sharing inconsistent with the country’s post-apartheid higher education transformation policy?
Teixeira, Pedro Koryakina, Tatyana Funding Reforms and Revenue Diversification -Patterns, Challenges and Rhetoric Over the last years, much has been written about the challenging financial context faced by many European HEIs and the pressures towards funding diversification. However, the evidence available indicates that funding diversification has seldom live up to the rhetorical expectations of marketization and privatization that have often sprinkled policy reforms. We analyse a decade of funding changes in Portugal, by looking at the emphasis on revenue diversification in those legal changes and confront that with the observed trends in institutional funding structure. We also discuss what factors may be more significant in explaining the evolution verified in revenue diversification.
Track 3 – Auditorium 2 HE & Development (chaired by Teboho Moja) Sá, Creso Co-Author: Gaviria, Patricia
America that have developed since NAFTA. The main questions guiding this study are: what forms of interaction have emerged among higher education systems and institutions in North America? How does the higher education sector inform the debate on North American integration?
Effects of Regional Policy Reforms on Higher Education: North America since NAFTA The passing of NAFTA in 1994 raised expectations of greater integration among the higher education systems of Canada, Mexico, and the United States. While NAFTA did not involve education, its provisions on professional mobility had implications for higher education (Crespo 2000; Barrow et al, 2003). This paper analyzes the patterns of interaction among the higher education systems in North
Oleksiyenko, Anatoly Universities and Regional Development in Central Asia: A Case of a Multilateral Partnership Model 27
The case study of the University of Central Asia sheds light on the increasing complexity of partnership building in the context of disadvantaged economic regions. Institutional development at the University of Central Asia is dependent on the collaboration of three national governments, a major private donor, and a network of scholars in Europe and Asia. The contextual changes related to geopolitical and economic movements in the region fuel the complex dynamics of institutional inter-dependencies. The study explores the new regional university’s missionrelated dilemmas and their impact on governance and funding patterns in the process of developing a multilevel partnership model.
Langa, Patrico Ouma, Gerald When elites become cash crops: From Global Policies to Local Politics of Access in African Higher Education This paper critically examines access policy changes in African higher education from the last years of colonialism to the present period, using Mozambique and Kenya as case studies. The paper describes the various shifts in access policies in higher education in the two countries and analyses them in the context of the prevailing development logics, and local politics of distribution of opportunities, which are mainly responsible for various initiatives geared at achieving equity of access.
Track 4 – Undervisningrom 1 Academic Profession: CAP – Academic work (various functions) (chaired by Amy Metcalfe)
Probst, Carole Goastellec, Gaële and Toffel, Kevin
Rostan, Michele
Internationalisation and the academic profession: mobility patterns of Swiss academics
Aspects of Academic Profession’s Internationalisation Beyond Physical Mobility: Teaching, Research and Dissemination Activities
In the context of internationalisation of higher education, it is observed that academic labour markets tend to remain national rather than international. In this presentation, we focus on an example of a labour market in which internationalisation is rather high: in Switzerland, around half of all academic personnel is of foreign nationality. Drawing on results from a recently conducted survey on the Changing Academic Profession including 1466 academics employed at Swiss higher education institutions and considering the corresponding policy context, we look at the internationalisation of academic careers in Switzerland, analysing also for institutional and disciplinary differences in mobility patterns.
Building on the information collected through the Changing Academic Profession (CAP) International Survey, the paper aims to address several aspects of the internationalisation of the academic profession beyond the physical mobility of academic staff. Issues such as the international orientation and content of teaching, teaching at home in a “foreign” language, international research collaboration, international scope or orientation of research activities, the international dissemination of research results and other academic work through traditional and new media, international funding, and the languages most used in research are taken into consideration highlighting both national and disciplinary differences.
Arimoto, Akira
Henkel, Mary
The Changing Nature of Academic Work From an International Comparative Perspective
Reform and Gender Inequality in the Academic Profession
Building on the results of the international Changing Academic Profession (CAP) Survey conducted in 2007, and also referring to the Carnegie International Survey of the Academic Profession carried out in 1992, the paper aims to analyze some factors behind the shifts in the research and teaching nexus in several counties from an international comparative perspective, looking at social changes, higher education policies, academic reforms, and (re)constructions of knowledge.
Drawing on the findings of a research project comparing gender inequalities in British and German universities, the paper will review the implication s of higher education refoms for the apparently ineradicable conflicts between motherhood and high career achievement in the academic profession. The issue will be explored within three theoretical frameworks: social theories of time; theories of the new capitalism, late modernity and the individualisation of society; and recent challenges to assumptions embedded in academe about valuing of and relationship between intellectual and emotional life.
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Track 4 – Undervisningrom 2 Academic Profession (chaired by Mary Henkel)
Pausits, Attila Maassen, Peter Mapping the Field – Higher Education Management Training Needs and Programmes in Europe. An analysis of demand and supply. Recent reforms of European higher education have been focused especially on institutional autonomy, institutional funding, and institutional management and leadership. Concerning the latter topic relatively little is known about European dimensions of management training needs as well as offerings. In this paper two surveys conducted as part of an EU funded LLP project called MODERN (European Platform Higher Education Modernisation) will be used as a basis for discussing the relationship between HE management training needs and offerings.
Lawrence, Janet At Odds or In Concert: Faculty-Administrator Relations and Decision-Making The battle to implement faculty tenure in the U.S. was long and hard fought and even today, this HR policy is often at the center of debates about institutional reform efforts. The proposed paper describes alterations in the composition of the U.S. professoriate and related concerns about faculty authority and collegial decision-making. Then, drawing on the findings from three recent studies by the author, it explores the complex nature of faculty - administrative staff relations in different decision domains, how it affects faculty satisfaction with and their willingness to implement decision-outcomes.
Goedegebuure, Leo Maassen, Peter Organizational effectiveness and executive leadership in universities: Is executive remuneration related to institutional performance? This paper is will compare the relationship between executive remuneration and institutional performance in two very un-similar higher education systems, Australia and Norway. Australia is one of the classic cases of new public manage-
ment with an increased emphasis of performance, efficiency, accountability, while Norway is by and large still is a classic case of the Northern Welfare state where higher education is seen as a public good rather, where students don’t pay tuition fees and where management and leadership in general is by election rather than selection. Our dependent variable is organizational performance, our independent variable is institutional management and leadership, operationalized as the level of executive pay, assuming that better leaders/managers receive higher pay.
Neumann, Ruth Ryan, Suzanne The professionalisation of the doctorate: a case study in the management of research education This paper reports a multi-year (2003-2007) institutional case study which illustrates how Australian government changes to the funding of research students have had a fundamental influence on how universities look at and manage their doctoral students. The case study shows how the doctorate is changing from an apprenticeship model of developing independent researchers to a professional model with a broad-based team extending beyond the individual supervisor. The study underlines how quickly major change can be effected. Fundamental to the change process are: the centrality of communication; the importance of information, the need for transparency, and, strong, proactive leadership.
Lee, Jenny Cantwell, Brendan International Postdocs and Varying Structures of Opportunity in the US and UK This research examines the experiences of international postdocs and their varying career paths through the lens of neo-racism. Whereas Lee and Rice (2007) and Lee (2009) have identified neo-racism from international students’ self-reported experiences, this research extends neo-racism research by examining the larger structures of the academic job market and varying degrees of opportunity depending on one’s country of origin as reported by faculty and postdocs. Like previous neo-racism research, the findings of this study confirm how individuals concede to discrimination in pursuit of individual self-interest, whether it be educational or career pursuits.
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Track 5B – Undervisningrom 3 HE & Professional Learning: Identities and personalization in higher education (chaired by Berit Karseth)
Archee, Ray Can higher education survive the personal learning environment: theory, practice and possibilities The advent of e-learning has produced sweeping changes to the nature of higher education. The educational experience, the research process, institutional expenditure and academic work have been transformed by the ability of students to be able to access ubiquitous online information. Thus a new question arises: what will be the higher education effects of personal learning environments? This paper explores new developments of personal learning environments within the context of embedded learning management systems. Current approaches to PLEs are critiqued and their effects upon higher education evaluated.
Elias, Marina Daza, Lidia Signs of reengagement? Changing in teaching methodology at Spanish universities as a result of the Bologna Process The introduction to Spain of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) has led to changes in teaching methodologies, focusing the teaching-learning process on the students in order to provide incentives for their autonomy and the development of self-learning. The results of our studies show that these changes have led to students being physically present in the institution for more hours, and through contact with their peers, it seems that they feel more involved at university life. So, the teaching innovations that have been implemented have become an agglutinating element and have caused an increase in student engagement.
Javed, Muhammad Malik, Muhammad Mobile Phone Culture and its Psychological Impacts on Students’ learning at University Level Mobile Phone Culture is the most widely used term in the present era. Mobile phone has affected almost every field of life but its effects on students’ learning especially at university level are
deep, multidimensional and multifarious. Our youngsters have been completely mesmerized and hypnotized by this magical device. The present study was conducted in order to determine the effects of mobile phone on the performance of students at university level. A small sample consisting 390 students of university level furnished their onions. Likret scale was used and data was analyzed by using SPSS XIV.
Filippakou, Ourania Tapper, Ted The quality agenda as a social process: some implications for knowledge and subjectivity This paper sketches contemporary ideas of quality in English higher education where many of the ideas governing educational thinking and policy derive from a present that is shaped by the quality agenda. It examines the specific issues of ‘academic professionalism’ and the ‘student learning experience’ as dominant discourses of the quality agenda. It discusses the environments of teaching and learning and questions what is to be learned in conditions of profound changes in higher education. The paper suggests that ideas of quality, how they are produced and realized, provide different kinds of resources for the production of knowledge and subjectivity.
Slowey, Maria Allison, Janelle New knowledge production in higher education: comparative exploration of knowledge partnering approaches Policy shifts in higher education in many countries place stronger emphasis on improved delivery for ‘hard to reach’ social and geographical communities: including a regional focus on the role of higher education in rural and urban areas, and a particular focus on widening access for students from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds. This paper draws on the sociology of knowledge to explore the challenges to dominant notions of knowledge and standards in higher education posed by dealing with such new learners.
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15.45 - 16.00
Coffee break, basement floor
16.00 - 18.00
Session 3 - Parallel track sessions
Track 1C – Auditorium 1 Governance of HE: Governance reform, institutional autonomy and performance effects (chaired by Leo Goedegebuure)
De Boer, Harry Enders, Jurgen
Westerheijden, Don F. et al.
Does goverannce reform matter? Governance reforms and their effects across Europe
Roundtable ‘Independent Assessment of the Bologna Process’
In the last two decades we have witnessed many governance reforms in higher education across Europe. These reforms reflect the growing recognition of how important higher education is to economic, social and cultural prosperity. This notion has also been espoused in several high-level European-wide processes and communications from the European Commission such as the modernisation agenda. The key questions addressed in our contribution are to what extent the ambitions of the modernisation agenda have been implemented in European higher education and to what extent the implementation of (aspects of) the modernisation agenda relate to higher education systems performance.
In “‘taking stock’ of the growing knowledge basis” the Independent Assessment of the Bologna Process was a major event of 2009-2010. This roundtable intends to summarise and discuss (1) if and how the Bologna Process influenced national and institutional policies and (2) if and how this study influenced the Bologna Process. Major contributors to the study discuss these issues with the audience and each other. It will give insight into comparability of data sources across the EHEA, into knowledge about impacts of policies, and into views on the relationship between research and policymaking.
Kehm, Barbara M. Schimank, Uwe and Enders, Jürgen Governance of Research. Why and to Whom Does It Matter? The paper by Enders, Kehm and Schimank will present the results of a study comparing the traditional collegial governance with the new managerial or NPM oriented governance regime. The study focused on the effects of new forms of (managerial) governance on research in universities in four countries (England, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria) and two subjects (red biotechnology, medieval history). A particular focus is put on (1) forms of quality assessment, (2) publication strategies, (3) choice of research topics, (4) balance of mainstream and unorthodox research, (5) relationships between basic and applied research, and (6) the teaching/research nexus.
King, Roger Global models, structuration and network power: autonomy and constraint in higher education governance The paper explores policy convergence between national higher education states, particularly the diffusion of globalizing models. The focus is on governmental decisionmakers, their transnational networks and global reference points, and the dilemmas they face in responding to the increasing global diffusion of powerful governance models, such as the New Public Management. The notion of ‘structuration’ is introduced to convey the inextricability of autonomy and structural constraint for policymakers in globally-situated higher education states. A key aim is to understand the forces that drive policy internationalization, not least those associated with the network power of dominant modes and standards.
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Track 4 – Undervisningrom 1 Academic Profession: CAP – Academics’ Careers and Institutional Context (chaired by Timo Aarrevaara)
Galaz-Fontes, Jesús F. Sevilla-García, Juan J. How Academics Perceive Institutional Leadership: A Comparative Exploratory Analysis Based on academics’ responses to the collaborative and international survey of the Changing Academic Profession (CAP), the paper describes the level with which faculty from different countries rate the leadership exerted by top-level administrators in their institutions. In addition to this description, several factors (management orientation, administrative support, administrative effectiveness, communication, working conditions, and institutional and personal characteristics) are examined in terms of their relative importance in explaining survey respondents’ leadership ratings.
De Zilwa, Deanna Bourdieu’s habitus as a conceptual tool to explore academics’ identities In previous eras academics’ identity was conceived as a functionalist dichotomy, as researcher or teacher. More nuanced analyses considered the nexus between these roles and the affects of disciplinary variations. Yet contemporary academ-
ics’ identities are more complex, fluid, hybridised constructs. Bourdieus’ notion of habitus is employed as a conceptual tool to analyse the processes academics employ to construct their identities. This work explores how academics negotiate tensions and conflicting priorities that emerge from their engagement with their multiple fields of practice and diverse stakeholders: the state, institutional levels of universities, global disciplinary networks, commercial markets and enterprises, communities and students.
Teichler, Ulrich Career, Employment and Work of the Academic Profession Drawing from the collaborative CAP research project, focusing on the economically advanced and academically mature countries, and making use of the findings of the predecessor Carnegie Foundation International Faculty Survey undertaken in the early 1990s, the presentation aims to examine whether widespread traditional views about the career and the employment and work conditions of academics still hold true today, whether differences by country play a more or even a less important role than conventional wisdom suggests, and the extent to which these features have changed in the 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century.
Track 4 - Auditorium 2 Academic Profession (chaired by Rui Santiago)
Bukow, Sebastian U. Sondermann, Michael Recruiting the best. The German Excellence Initiative: A window of opportunity for introducing new institutional HR strategies, policies and regulations? The German Excellence Initiative initiated well-funded Clusters of Excellence with the aim to establish internationally visible research and training facilities. These clusters, acting in a highly competitive environment, had to appoint a large number of top-level researchers in a very short time. This paper examines which new HR strategies were introduced for successful recruiting, which problems occurred and to which extent spill-over ef-
fects of these procedural innovations to German universities in general are already visible. Based on this it will be discussed, in which way the Excellence Initiative leads to a changing governance model of universities in Germany.
Horta, Hugo Public policies promoting the qualification of human resources and internationalization of academia: mobilizing change at Portuguese universities This article analyses public policies focusing on the qualification and internationalization of human resources at Portuguese universities. The main argument is that public policies aimed at the
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qualification of faculty and researchers alongside with initiatives towards the internationalization of academic research have been key elements in driving institutional change at Portuguese universities, fostering as well the formation of national research and teaching networks. Although the effort to train qualified human resources continues to be relevant, other challenges have arisen to both policy-makers and university managers alike: continuing to foster brain-circulation and attracting and integrating international scholars and students.
of the official documents and interviews of academic staff at various levels, this paper provides an in depth qualitative analysis of how academic freedom is being (re)constructed under the reforms in particular as they manifest in the initial implementation of the tenure track system at Aalto University.
Vandevelde, Karen Excellent because mobile, or mobile because excellent?
Herbert, Anne Tienari, Janne New Career Systems and the (Re)Construction of ‘Academic Freedom’ in a Finnish University In a radical change to traditional modes of academic employment in Finland, one new university has introduced a tenure track system for academic employees. This system developed based on an American model of steps to achieve academic tenure, is being implemented as we write. Based on a text analysis
In the European Higher Education and Research Area, the belief that mobility and excellence are correlated has led to a range of mobility schemes and incentives at European and national level, as well as within institutional policies and funding agencies. This paper argues that the “mobility stimulates excellence” principle does not always apply. An investigation of the outcomes of mobility is necessary to differentiate between the various outcomes of researchers’ mobility, and to make sure that the “mobility mantra” does not work contraproductively. As such, mobility incentives could be designed to be more effective and meet the proposed objectives.
Track 5C – Undervisningrom 2 HE & Professional Learning: Knowledge cultures, identities and professional learning (chaired by Monika Nerland)
Strand, Torill Jensen, Karen
Nerland, Monika Karseth, Berit
Researching Epistementalities in the Professions
Professional associations in the knowledge society: new roles and strategies
This paper explores shifts in the epistemic cultures, practices and knowledge ties of four Norwegian professions over a span of eight years. The paper first reports a comparative and longitudinal study (2003 – 2011) that documents how Norwegian nurses, teachers, auditors, and computer engineers are now geared towards life-long learning, inclusion, information-seeking and knowledge production. Next, it explores to what degree these shifts can be seen as epistemic transformations generated by the ways in which global/local epistemologies unavoidably interact, converge, convert, and offer new instruments of knowing, acting and constructing the world of objects in an increasingly dispersed knowledge world.
This paper examines how professional associations take on new responsibilities and engage themselves in efforts to enhance practitioners’ opportunities for learning throughout working life. Taking the general requests for continuous learning as well as international regulation of professional knowledge and competencies as points of departure, the paper analyses how the professional associations for nurses, school teachers, auditors and engineers in Norway respond to these changes and take up the role as facilitators for practitioners’ learning in different ways. The data utilized consist of policy documents and interviews with key persons in the four associations.
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Smeby , Jens-Christian Learning trajectories: from educational enrolment to experienced practitioner The rapid shifts in knowledge and institutional arrangements in contemporary society call upon individuals and communities to engage in never-ending processes of learning and re-learning. Professions face challenges in transforming their domain of expertise into the complex demands of the knowledge society. Moreover, the close link between professional education and work may be challenged by the complexity of qualification arenas and trajectories. The present paper explores the characteristics of professional learning trajectories. Teachers and nurses are examined in a longitudinal perspective including qualifications before they enrol; initial education as well as the first six years in professional work.
19.00 - 23.00
Kaulisch, Marc Hauss, Kalle Cultures of doctoral education in Germany: Beyond classical groupings? Disciplines are grouped into larger sets of disciplinary cultures. In research on doctoral education these disciplinary cultures are often used for case selection. Due to the importance of disciplinary differences in explaining outcome of doctoral education, it is necessary to prove if a discipline is really a prime example for a wider group of disciplines. Based on a concept of Bargel (1988), we distinguish role and identity cultures as well as work and organisational cultures. Our paper is based on data from an ongoing longitudinal panel study on doctoral candidates in Germany.
Gala dinner
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Saturday, 12 June, 2010 08.30 - 10.00
Keynote panel “Role of knowledge in higher education reforms�, Auditorium 1 Participants: Agneta Bladh, Bruce Johnstone and Teboho Moja Chair: Peter Maassen The panel members each have a long and rich experience in leadership positions in higher education system, be it as politician, university rector/president, professor, ministerial advisor, consultant, or bureaucrat. Each will start with a presentation of 15 minutes about their view on the importance and relevance of academically produced knowledge on higher education in HE reforms. They will address questions such as: What kind of knowledge did they use in their political functions (as evidence or legitimation for decisions)? What effects did their academic work and their advisory/consultancy activities have on reform agendas and reform outcomes? Does academic knowledge on higher education matter in the practice of state (or national) level policy making and institutional decision making? How can HE researchers strengthen the impact of their work? The presentations will be followed by a discussion with the audience.
10.00 - 10.15
Coffee break, basement floor
10.15 - 11.15
CHER Business meeting, Auditorium 1
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11.15 - 12.45
Session 1 - Parallel track sessions Track 1 – Auditorium 1 Governance of HE (chaired by Bjørn Stensaker)
Moscati, Roberto Uncertain university governance with wavering degrees of institutional autonomy: Contradictory trends in the Italian higher education reform After a long tradition of centralisation the Italian system of higher education has experienced a decade of progressive introduction of autonomy. The results of these processes have not been appreciated very much by the new government which recently has introduced a number of measures aiming at controlling almost all kind of university activity. At the same time, the new legal framework is stressing the relevance of rectors and of university management while giving more power to the “lay members” in the council of administration. These contradictory measures are creating serious problems at the level of university governance.
Jones, Glen Boyko, Lydia
the boundaries between institutional types have frequently blurred and shifted as system-level governance structures have attempted to address the changing demands of the knowledge economy, competition within and between institutional sectors for resources and status, and the need to expand access to postsecondary education. The objective of this paper is to describe and analyze recent changes in system-level governance in Canada’s provincial systems of higher education.
Longden, Bernard Brown, Roger Classifying universities: an initial attempt at providing a theoretically sound basis for classifying universities This contribution explores a possible approach to enable interested stakeholders to classify higher education, such that comparable institutions can be clustered together for the purpose of aiding student decision making, benchmarking, ranking and other comparative activities.
Revisiting System Design: Institutional Differentiation and System-Level Governance in Canadian Higher Education
As higher education system have expanded there is a growing need for potential students, funders and donors to have an appreciation of the educational, research and other services provided by universities.
The creation of non-university institutions and the development of binary systems of higher education were components of a common approach to efficiently expanding access to postsecondary education in many jurisdictions. However,
This need is reinforced by the demands of a marketised provision of higher education. This paper provides both a theoretical framework for the proposed model and its application using existing public domain data.
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Track 2B – Undervisningrom 1 Funding of HE: Effects of policy on funding (chaired by Pedro Teixeira)
Jongbloed, Ben Funding through contracts: European and institutional perspectives This paper discusses funding reforms, highlighting the emergence of contract funding at the national level (based on evidence from a recent European research project) as well as the institutional level (based on information collected by the author for three Dutch universities). The main argument is that funding authorities and university administrators increasingly realize that their traditional funding approaches and formulas tend to be backward looking and may need to be combined with a system of (forward-looking) contracts, allowing for a greater differentiation in missions.
Dar, Luciana Franke, Ray Revisiting the political economy of government support for higher education: evidence from a new unifying measure for the American states The global shift towards knowledge economies has led to a systematic growth on the economic value of tertiary education, and, as a result, the growth of socio-economic and political sali-
ence of higher educations systems and institutions. To what extent have these trends affected governmental support for higher education and cost-sharing strategies across countries? How do political, social and economic factors shape governments’ commitments to higher education? We use the policy laboratory created by the U.S states to identify the main determinants of variations in government support for higher education followed by a discussion of potential implications for comparative research.
Chiang, Kuang-Hsu From RAE to REF – What does UK Higher Education lose in this research evaluation reform? The UK government has recently taken a new turn with regard to its research and funding policies on universities: a move from a supply model to demand model. Emphasises are going to be put on the measure of research impacts. The new initiatives, such as the introduction of the Research Excellence Framework (REF), can have adverse effects on trust and research atmosphere in higher education. Without trust, Higher education risks to move towards opportunism. This paper therefore would like to examine the detrimental impacts of such turn of research/funding policies on trust and atmosphere in research environment of higher education.
Track 3 – Auditorium 2 HE & Development: Central and Eastern Europe (chaired by Martina Vukasovic)
Dziedziczak-Foltyn, Agnieszka
1) Thesis: imitational character of modernization processes in relation to the modernization of Polish society.
Between modernization of society and modernization of education The Polish higher education case
2) Thesis: decision makers’ failure to perceive or understand the function of higher education in view of society’s modernisation needs.
The paper will be an attempt to evaluate modernization (reformatory) processes aiming at the renovation of the higher education system in Poland which are placed in a broader environment of the modernization of society, in the context of the imitational modernization concept. The paper will present three main theses.
3) Thesis: ideological character of modernization of higher education.
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Bacevic, Jana
Lazetic, Predrag
Universities and Development in Post-Conflict Environment: the Cases of Serbia, Macedonia and Kosovo
Development of an atypical evaluative state in Serbia - rationales and repercussions
Focusing on case-studies of six universities founded after 2000 in the Western Balkans, the paper addresses the roles higher education can play in post-conflict environments, arguing that these will depend significantly on the contextualisation of higher education institutions within a post-conflict environment, and that this should be taken into account when researching the impact of higher education on local and regional development. Informed by neo-institutional and agency approaches, the paper offers a comparative description of backgrounds, governance and funding mechanisms, and roles, missions and activities of the mentioned institutions, situating and interpreting this comparison within the broader socio-political framework.
The existing research on the higher education accreditation scheme in Serbia developed after 2005 stresses the unique procedural and functional logic of the process. These characteristics of the scheme are concluded to be a reflection of the specific governance shifts in the Serbian higher education in the last two decades. These shifts created an atypical model of the evaluative state which developed without the usual context of New Public Management reforms. This paper investigates further the atypical features of the evaluative state in Serbia with the focus on the specific role of academic oligarchy in the regulation of higher education.
Track 4 – Undervisningrom 2 Academic Profession: CAP (chaired by Amy Metcalfe)
Carvalho, Teresa Santiago, Rui Academics in Portugal: Quid Novi? The paper intends to reflect upon changes in academic profession in Portugal based on quantitative and qualitative analysis. Issues proposed are as follows: i) what are the Portuguese academic’s profession views towards the emergence of knowledge economy/society and the managerial changes of their workplaces?; ii) Is it possible to identify any aggregated positions expressing the different views? Data analysis reveals that academics identify changes in institutional environment (external and internal) and their responses to it can be classified in three different main categories: managerial, hybrid and traditional.
Bentley, Peter Kyvik, Svein Academic work from a comparative perspective: A survey of working time across 15 countries Sociological institutional theory views universities as model driven organisations. Institutional success is measured on standardised global scales, with the world’s stratification system upholding models at the ‘best’ universities. Ideas are diffused from countries possessing a cultural hegemony to the rest of the world. Institutional change leads universities towards conform-
ity, imitation and isomorphism. This paper examines how common understandings for categories, such as university and professor, translate into common day-to-day work activities. We test this proposition using working time data across fifteen countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, UK, and the USA.
Santiago, Rui Carvalho, Teresa and Vabø, Agnete Personal characteristics, career trajectories and sense of identity among male and female academics in Norway and Portugal. This paper analyzes the gendered character of Academia – comparing Norway and Portugal according to national features such as career trajectories, different national patterns regarding the balancing of work and obligations of private life, such as caring for children. Processes of globalization, internationalization, new modes of governance, changing social, economic and demographic conditions are however contributing to rapid changes within the academic profession regarding recruitment patterns, career trajectories, working conditions and sense of identity. Against this backdrop the paper discusses to what extent gender inequalities correspond to differences in working conditions, and modes of academic work (Vabø & Ramberg 2009).
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De Lourdes Machado-Taylor, Maria Soares, Virgilio Meira An Examination of Academic Job Satisfaction and Motivation in Portuguese Higher Education The academic staff is a key resource within higher education institutions and therefore it has a major role in achieving the objectives of the institution. Research, reveals that the concept of job satisfaction and motivation are a complex collection of variables that interact in a myriad of ways. Moreover the performance of academic staff has an impact on student learning and determines much of the student success. Such a profile may have an impact on the quality of a higher education institution. This presentation will discuss an ongoing study on academic satisfaction and motivation within the Portuguese higher education institutions.
12.45 - 13.15
Closing of the conference - Auditorium 1
13.15 - 14.00
Lunch, cafeteria
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The 23rd Annual CHER Conference is proudly hosted and organized by the University of Oslo and NIFUSTEP, Norway.
www.uv.uio.no/english/conference/cher2010 40